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The SOS Group is excited to announce our new partnerships in Pennsylvania and Louisiana.

We are thrilled to be adding Glade Run Medical Associates, Inc (an extension of Armstrong County Memorial Hospital), and Baton Rouge General Medical Center to our list of outstanding partners. Our team looks forward to working with and assisting the patients in your communities.

The SOS Group (Strategic Outsourcing Solutions) is pleased to announce our new partnership with Murray-Calloway County Hospital. This new partnership now gives The SOS Group partners in 10 states. Our services will be centered around enhancing the post-discharge patient experience, customer service, and collections. We look forward to working with the hospital, the staff, and the patients in the community to build a long successful partnership.

The SOS Group (Strategic Outsourcing Solutions) is pleased to announce our new partnership with Healdsburg District Hospital. Our services will be centered around enhancing the post-discharge patient experience and customer service. We look forward to working with the hospital and the patients in the community to build a long successful partnership.

The SOS Group (Strategic Outsourcing Solutions) has been awarded The Billing (Early-Out) and Debt Collections agreement with Premier, Inc.

DATELINE – The SOS Group has been awarded a group purchasing agreement for Billing (Early-Out) and Debt Collections with Premier, Inc. Effective 8/1/2016, the new agreement allows Premier members, at their discretion, to take advantage of special pricing and terms pre-negotiated by Premier for Billing (Early-Out) and Debt Collections. Premier, Inc. is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,400 U.S. hospitals and 110,000 other providers to transform healthcare. Visit their website at http://www.premierinc.com .

The SOS Group is honoured to be selected as a preferred early-out billing and healthcare collections partner. We look forward to providing our dynamic services to Premier Membership. Our services include comprehensive business office/customer service outsourcing for all patient balances whether a true self-pay balance or a patient balance after insurance, and a successful healthcare debt collection service with all the latest collection recovery techniques and technology to increase recoveries.

The SOS Group Early-Out Billing service is geared toward providing Premier Members and their patients with a customized business office extension to alleviate current workload and costs, adding technological enhancements for patient convenience, maintaining a high level of customer service, and driving revenue.

Our Healthcare Debt Collection process is geared toward liquidating delinquent accounts utilizing our 50 + years of healthcare collection experience, experienced healthcare collector teams, and the latest in collection/recovery technology. While our goal is to increase recoveries, we also ensure that we maintain a high level of customer service within our collection service center.
About The SOS Group (Strategic Outsourcing Solutions)

Based in Cleveland, OH, The SOS Group is a nationally recognized receivable solutions firm. Being privately held, and boasting an A+ Rating with the BBB, we are big enough to handle any business and small enough to give each partner the personal attention that they deserve. The SOS Group excels in its ability to stay ahead of industry standards. The SOS Group incorporates a dedicated team philosophy for each of our partners. We have modeled our entire business center with these segmented teams and phone lines with the goal of getting to know your patients better; Thus, creating a better level of comfort which will allow our staff to explore all balance resolution avenues whether in an extended business office status or collection status. Our specialties consist of early-out/customer service call center, pre-collect, specialized outbound call campaigns, inbound call overflow outsourcing, 1st placement collections, and 2nd placement collection services. We have the ability to customize all services to fit each and every partner’s needs. The SOS Group will incorporate your missions and values to ensure the dedicated team is truly tailored to your specific needs. In turn, this provides cohesiveness and drives revenues while maintaining a high level of customer service. We are here for you and look forward to working together to customize a program that best suits you and your community. I invite you to read and join/review our blog at https://thesosgroup.wordpress.com/. I believe that will give you some true insight on just how dedicated we are to being a leader in the industry. Additionally, please visit our website at http://www.sosgrp.org. You can also see us on Facebook, and Follow and Like us on LinkedIn.

The SOS Group and Penn Highlands Healthcare would like to announce a new partnership. The partnership will be centered around enhancing the post discharge patient experience, and allowing Penn Highlands Healthcare to standardize its processes across the three hospital system. Knowing that patients are first at Penn Highlands, The SOS Group will work extensively to increase customer service to help enhance the patient experience. The SOS Group is looking forward to a long successful partnership with Penn Highlands Healthcare.

In such a competitive time where health systems are building hospitals and urgent care centers sometimes across the street from each other, I believe how much you value your patients experience post discharge should be your life line. Moreover, with social media in play, your patient’s opinions about you will be seen by more people than ever before. Most health systems and physician groups have/maintain a high level of care, and have facilities with aesthetically pleasing surroundings. However, what happens to the patient after they leave the facilities may be the most important part of their stay, and you staying in business.
I will be sharing what our experiences have been as an extended business office, and some philosophies that we have encountered in our 23 years working with health systems and physician groups.
It is important to look first at how and when you are reaching out to your patients, post-discharge. After the normal process of billing and eligibility (Financial Assistance or Medicaid), a patient liability may and usually does remain.
So, Let’s start with a patient statement. I have seen many different philosophies on building a “perfect patient statement.” With 501r taking hold, these decisions become even more important, as the patient’s options must be clearly laid out with every contact. The question from the health provider has been: Do we create a statement with as much detail as possible and risk confusing the patient? Or do you build a simple statement with easy navigation and charge descriptions? Having been on both ends of the spectrum, the common theme has always been colorful and easy to read. The best result from either side may be that the statement triggers contact with the patient. This phone contact is invaluable both to customer service and liquidation of accounts. Though some education of the patient is done pre-access, this is a great opportunity for you to get to know your patients and explore all options available to them. Additionally, as an extended business office, we have found that almost a third of the patients we speak to, post-discharge, have some type of insurance that was not found during pre-access or their visit, or they do in fact qualify for some type of financial assistance. Taking advantage of this opportunity whether as an extended business office or in-house staff will lead to a better relationship with the patient, which may solidify the patient returning to your facilities for future healthcare.
This leads perfectly to the next step within the process for the patient: How and when phone contact is made to your patients
Whether you utilize an outside firm for an early-out process or not, the health system of physician group has to decide how and when they want to start asking the patient for payment via phone contact. Here again the philosophies are different. Some think that by sending an initial statement and waiting 30-45 days before making the first outbound call is sufficient. This is “the low hanging fruit” theory. The other end, is to try and contact the patient within the first 15-25 days after sending the initial statement. Here the health provider is trying to drive both revenue and customer service. Some feel that the earlier you contact the patient, the better chance you have of resolving the balances and assisting the patient with any concerns or questions. I believe that there is an educational opportunity on both ends within these first 25 days. Meaning, there is an opportunity for us to share the options available to the patient, but also a chance for us to learn about the patient. Things like the patient’s current financial situation, if there are any concerns/questions about their bill, if they have any insurance, etc. may lead the patient down the path of satisfaction and your health system to lower A/R days and increased revenue. We have found more often than not; the patient appreciates the contact earlier. If the contact is customer service/exploratory in nature, it will be better received. There is always an opportunity to build relationships with your patients/customers, but speaking with them earlier in the cycle may help both you and the patient.
Finally, having enough quality staff in place will help solidify your relationship with your patients. Having a great patient statement, and a rock solid post discharge process in place is great. However, your staff, whether in-house or at an extended business office, has to be prepared to relay your message. As we are all aware, we work in small windows within the healthcare receivables industry. Those windows start to close the older an account gets. So, having enough educated staff in place that can relay your missions, values, and is versed on all regulations that govern our industry is a start. However, having a staff in place that can first assist the patient with questions about their service, explore with the patient all possible avenues for balance resolution, and then be able to ask for payment is where the success may lie and end. Having and maintaining quality staff is more important than any technology in our industry. We have found that building a comfort level through a knowledgeable and high quality staff leads to better communication between both parties. If the patient is comfortable, they may be more willing to learn about the options that are available to them to resolve their balances.
No matter the thought process, the patient makes the wheels go round for your health system and physician groups. So, enhancing their post discharge process depends on your willingness to go that extra mile to get the balance resolved and maintain a relationship with your patients.
Whether you have an in-house process, or outsource to an early-out firm here are a few side items that we recommend that will help give you the flexibility to assist you patients better:
1) An IVR is a must- (SELF-SERVICE TECHNOLOGY)
-2 simple options on the IVR of making a payment OR to speak to a live representative will help increase your productivity as a call center, and reduce hold times for your patients

2) Having ENOUGH quality/knowledgeable staff in place to ASSIST the patient will help build relationships and comfort levels for the patients

3) Monitor your abandonment call rates. Goals should be set for wait times and abandonment rates. The better these are the more patients you are helping and the less complaints you will have

4) Design a simple colorful statement that complies with the 501r and relays your missions and values

6) Quality assurance process to monitor customer service representatives and their results
-Share this with your staff and clients (if an outside vendor)

7) Call/Speech analytic software that will allow for live call monitoring by your managers. Thus, improving your contacts with your patients, and your customer service representative performance
8) Create a patient survey for their post-discharge patient experience. This will be another avenue to monitor your in-house or outsourced process

In the competitive healthcare industry, getting a patient to return to your facilities for future healthcare is the key. Enhancing their patient experience post discharge may be the biggest hurdle to achieving this.

The SOS Group is celebrating 84 years as a leader in the healthcare receivables solutions industry. Based in Cleveland, Ohio we boast an A+ Rating with the Better Business Bureau and have healthcare partners in 9 states and growing. The SOS Group is big enough to dedicate a team to your accounts, and small enough to maintain our personal approach to each of our healthcare partners and their patients.
We excel in our ability to stay ahead of industry standards, as well as the ability to create a positive patient experience. We do this by offering a specialized/dedicated team and dedicated phone lines to each partner for all of our services. Because SOS’s corporate philosophy is “Great Patient Experiences do not end at Discharge”, we have modeled our entire business center with these segmented teams and phone lines with the goal of getting to know each patient better; thus creating a better level of comfort for the patient.
As your extended business office, we will educate your patients on their charges, and introduce them to all available balance resolution options. This understanding enhances the patient experience post-discharge, and encourages the patient to return to your facility for future healthcare. We will also incorporate your missions and values to ensure the dedicated team is truly tailored to your specific needs. In turn, this provides cohesiveness and drives revenues while maintaining a high level of customer service